I've spent a lot of time on The Rubin Report talking about the current status of the left. As I've said before, I believe the Regressive Left, the group of people who will use illiberal tactics to silence those defending liberal principles, to be the left's version of the Tea Party. If we don't reign them in now then the left in America will end up as fractured as the right. Evidence of the fractured right is everywhere, with basically every mainstream conservative actively trying to stop the GOP party's front-runner, Donald Trump. Has there ever been a time when a front-runner on either side was so hated by his own party's establishment? Not that I know of. Interestingly enough, this mess is of the GOP's own doing. They didn't see the rise of the Tea Party until it was too late, which set the GOP establishment against their own base. Ironically, had the Tea Partiers been willing to negotiate with anyone else, perhaps the Republican party would be in a better state than the ideological mess it is right now. That didn't happen though -- and when you couple a fractured right with the rise of the regressive left, who refuse to talk honestly about issues like Islamic extremism and immigration, we now have the rise of Donald Trump.

Before I continue, let me say a couple positive things about Donald Trump. Should I have issued a trigger warning there? Sorry, safe space or not, here we go: He has absolutely exposed our robotic politicians who are bought and sold by campaign contributors, mocking Hillary for showing up to his wedding because he gave a large donation to her. In many ways his message of a broken system corrupted by money is exactly the same thing as what Bernie Sanders is saying. Trump has also talked about America's awful trade deals with China and Mexico and promised to negotiate better ones -- there's every reason to believe he would be good at this, after all making deals is what he has built his empire on. People have attacked him for having his Trump brand ties made in Mexico, but that actually proves his point about our bad trade deals. He's making things to sell where cost is cheap and profit will be maximum. As an American businessman he's doing what's best for his business by making his ties in Mexico. It's not the fault of the businessman who uses the system, that's the fault of our politicians who set up the bad deals which enable it.

Trump also brought the issue of immigration to the front and center of the debate. He says he'll build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. While I think that Mexico may end up building and paying for the wall to keep Americans out if Trump becomes president, he makes a serious populist point with the wall.Trump always says, "We either have a country, or we don't." A wall in and of itself isn't racist. It may not be wise, and it may not address the real problems, but when he talks in simple language like that he scores points with many voters. Having a secure border shouldn't be a partisan issue, but because of our politically correct climate, it's become one. You can be for better border security and still not a bigot.That shouldn't be too hard to understand. Finally, he has also scored points with many people when talking about the spread of Islamic extremism. While Trump never takes the time to make the distinction between Islamic extremism and the average Muslim person, he scores points by even talking about Islamic extremism in the first place because the left in this country refuses to do so. This failure on the left to tackle the topic of Islamic extremism honestly, by linking doctrine with action, helps feed those like Trump who come in with easy answers with no nuance or real understanding. Trump sees an opening for an easy answer here, like banning all Muslims from entry to the country, and he runs with it.

Turn on any cable news channel to see the list of bad things about Donald Trump. We've heard them all before, so I'm going to take a different road here -- let's talk about what the real threat of a Donald Trump presidency is. Donald Trump is a businessman making business decisions, but he's also a reality TV host winning the real world's biggest reality show. Over the course of his presidential campaign, Trump has made it clear he will say anything, literally anything, just to be elected. He uses the media's need for clicks and views to fuel his rise, knowing full well the more outlandish his statements are and the more clownish he acts, the more free TV time he's going get. He has mastered the age old adage, Any publicity is good publicity.

People like Trump for his lack of political correctness, but it's not what he's saying that they're responding to, it's just that he's saying nothing AND everything at the same time without sounding like a career politician. Is he really against gay marriage now, even though he used to be for it? Is he really against abortion now, even though he used to be pro-choice? I have no idea what's in his heart, but I do know what's in his head -- he wants to be the contestant who doesn't get fired on the season finale.

Many people in this country want to feel like America is winning again. Trump has wisely used this notion to fuel his campaign, but the question is what does Trump winning actually mean? If he wins, does anyone think he will actually adhere to the constitution?Will he care about due process, or respect the three branches of government? Will he sue reporters who investigate the White House? Will we get into a war over a mistaken retweet? His gruff language and loose use of facts are only the micro problem here -- the macro problem is that nobody really knows what he stands for, other than winning...and that is the real risk of a Trump presidency. We have no idea what this country will look like after we elect someone who cares more about his own rules than the laws of the land. He says Starbucks will put Merry Christmas back on cups when he's president. Does he know that the president doesn't get to decide what a private company does with their product? As a business man he does know, but as a presidential candidate, he doesn't care.

If winning at all costs for a temporary feel good moment is enough for you, you should vote for Donald Trump. But don't be fooled, you're being sold a bill of goods by someone who only cares about making the deal. When the product sucks, don't expect to get a refund.